Final Major Project: Meeting the Owen Family

Today we met with Flo and Ivor Owen at the Maidstone Branch of The Royal British Legion. we met at their centre at 7 Marsham Street, Maidstone, to discuss our documentary ideas.

We found out some really useful information about the work they do from the local branch and spoke a lot about how they are struggling to  recruit new members to their branch.

We also found out that...

• to become a member of a branch it costs a £6 annual fee for anybody aged 12-17 and a £16 annual fee for anybody aged 18+
• Each branch has to raise its own funds to keep themselves running and all money they collect unless specifically donated to the branch will go to the 'Poppy Appeal'
• 4 members of the Owen family are officers at the Maidstone branch.
• Ivor has given 25 years of his life working voluntarily for the RBL
• The branches no longer take care of Welfare (distribution of money) which used to be run from each separate branch, which is now run from the Kent county office for the Kent Area and determined by caseworkers who work from a specific branch.
• Maidstone has 93 members.
• Maidstone Branch raises £30,000 - £40,000 each year towards 'The Poppy Appeal'.
• The Maidstone branch are represented each year at the remembrance day parade as well as often attending the county and civic parade.
• Each month, the branch produces a newsletter/magazine called 'The Emblem' which contains information about the Branch and any events coming up including fundraisers and events which is sent out to each member.

We asked Flo and Ivor what they would like to get from our documentary and how they would like to benefit from it. There were two main points which they would like our documentary to highlight which were; 

• Raise awareness on their work for Welfare (helping people face to face who are ex-service personnel or their dependants).
• The importance of recruiting new members for each branch (Branches are closing down as they are not recruiting new members. This means that their expertise will not be passed on to younger members - this may lead to the closure of a branch which will affect the money raised for the Poppy Appeal in that area).

Using this information, we are able to ensure that our script will reflect the needs of the local branches of the RBL.